"I have, my dear Valentine. Do you see that little strap attached to the back of the chair?"
"I see it, but have no idea what it is for."
"It is to support the head if one wishes."
And adding example to precept, this nonchalant young woman added:
"Don't you see how comfortable it is? But what is the matter? You are gazing at me with such a surprised, almost chagrined air," said the young woman, suddenly becoming serious. "Well, you are right. You think me indifferent to all your past, and I trust now partially forgotten, trials," added Florence, in a tone of deep feeling. "Far from it! I have sympathised with you in every grief, but this is such a happy, blissful day to me that I do not want to mar it by any unpleasant recollections."
"What, you know—"
"Yes, I have known for more than a year of your imprisonment at Poitou, your subsequent widowhood and poverty, from which you suffered more on your mother's account than on your own. I know, too, how courageously you struggled against adversity. But dear me! this is exactly what I was afraid of!" half sobbed, half laughed the young woman, dashing the tears from her eyes. "And to-day of all days in the world!"
"Florence, my dear friend, I never once doubted your sincere affection."
"Is that really true?"
"It is, indeed. But how did you learn all these particulars in regard to me?"